Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and France's Emmanuel Macron will work together to try to persuade the United States to reconsider its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a Turkish presidential source said on Saturday (9 December).

Kazakhstan is searching for a post-Soviet identity somewhere between its traditional Kazakh and Turkish cultures, Europe and multiculturalism, diplomats have told EURACTIV. But Europe has been slow to forge closer ties with the young country, despite its strategic location and potential.

The ruling elite in Astana acknowledges that continuous efforts are needed to tackle corruption – recognised as “systemic” – and bolster press freedom in Kazakhstan. "But it’s a very subtle balance between democracy and stability”, local politicians argue.

A flurry of diplomatic activity continued in Astana on Wednesday (1 November), marked by the visit of the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, who was awarded a prize for fighting against nuclear proliferation.

Kazakhstan is ready to continue its role as a facilitator of international dialogue and mediation, Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Kazakhstan’s deputy foreign minister, said as he briefed reporters in Astana on Tuesday (31 October) and answered many questions about the ongoing Syria talks, North Korea and eastern Ukraine.

A Commission official said on Wednesday (4 October) that Kazakhstan was “the living proof” for Central Asia and the EU's neighborhood that it should be possible for those countries to have good relations both with Brussels and Moscow.

A panel discussion at the Bled Strategic Forum highlighted the experience of West Africa in the common management of the water resources over a large area and progress in improving cooperation in an even larger Central Asia.

A majority of EU countries have national pavilions at EXPO 2017 in Astana, dedicated to the theme “Future energy”. But the action of the EU in terms of energy choices for the future and the Union’s leadership in tackling climate change are not visible in national pavilions, EURACTIV has seen.

He never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. So went the Abba Eban-penned 1973 slogan used to describe the late PLO chief, Yasser Arafat, who was routinely blamed for failing to secure peace with Israel.

Kazakhstan inaugurated a Low Enriched Uranium Bank on Tuesday (29 August), backed by the IAEA. The EU, one of the project's biggest donours, hailed it as a “success for international cooperation” on non-proliferation. EURACTIV.com reports from Ust-Kamenogorsk and Astana.

Central Asian countries are exploring forms of integration resembling those of the European Union, the latest one being the establishment of free movement of people and workers between Turkey and Kazakhstan.

In proposing Astana as the venue for the Syrian peace negotiations, Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev certainly wasn’t expecting Turkey, one of the main regional players and a NATO member, to block the adoption of documents aimed at establishing the so-called “de-escalation zones” plan in Syria. Nevertheless, the temporary failure to achieve a result is rather a setback for Moscow, not for Astana.

Recent remarks by Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak, who called on oil producers to show greater discipline in adhering to agreed-upon output cuts designed to raise the price of oil, have caught the attention of Kazakhstan.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday (2 May) moved to ease the tension from US air strikes in April against Russian ally Syria, expressing a desire for a Syrian ceasefire and safe zones for the civil war's refugees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed peacemaking efforts in Ukraine and Syria during a conference call yesterday (18 January), a Kremlin statement said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted saying yesterday (20 November) that Turkey did not need to join the European Union "at all costs" and could instead become part of a security bloc dominated by China, Russia and Central Asian nations.

Kazakhstan's president on Monday (22 June) hailed the "new horizons" opening up to his country after the former Soviet state completed nearly two decades of talks on joining the World Trade Organisation.